


Redtail's Spottedleaf's Heart

by DuplexBeGreat



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Gen, and others - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 20:11:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15870897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuplexBeGreat/pseuds/DuplexBeGreat
Summary: I can only assume this is how Redtail's Debt is going to go.





	Redtail's Spottedleaf's Heart

Redpaw crept through the undergrowth, his ears pricked for any hint of prey. The ThunderClan apprentice was careful to keep his bushy red tail down; while any hunter searching for prey had to mind their tail, his was especially conspicuous due to its color. The rest of the young tom’s mottled tortoiseshell pelt blended in much better with the backdrop of forest.

Sparrowpelt’s words flickered through the apprentice’s mind as he padded along. “You’d better work on your hunting crouch, or Spottedpaw will soon be a better hunter than you!” Irritated, Redpaw kneaded the ground with his paws. While he felt sorry for his sister that her training had been delayed by her unfortunate fall from a tree, he wasn’t going to let that slow down his own progress as an apprentice. He was going to be the greatest warrior ThunderClan had ever seen. He’d be deputy someday, and then leader!

Musing about how cool the name _Redstar_ sounded, Redpaw nearly failed to notice the squirrel that had crossed his path. He froze, praying to StarClan that his harebrained movements hadn’t already given him away. But it seemed as though the squirrel had no idea he was there—he was downwind from it, and its attention was focused elsewhere.

Slowly, Redpaw moved forward, one paw at a time, preparing his crouch so that he could leap the moment he was close enough.

_Fox dung!_ The squirrel had turned around at the last moment. Its tiny eyes going wide with terror when it spotted him, it scampered off towards some bushes, wriggling underneath them in an instant. Sighing, Redpaw padded over to the bushes, peering beneath them to see if there was enough room for a cat to fit.

Streams of sunlight flecked against his muzzle. With a start, Redpaw realized that he had reached the edge of the treeline in this part of the forest. On the other side of the bushes, he could see a bright, vibrant patch of green grass that marked the boundary between the forest and the Twolegplace on the other side.

There was definitely space for a cat underneath the bushes—the bushes’ glossy leaves concealed a spacious opening underneath. Looking to the side, Redpaw spied a sort of tunnel running the full length of the bushes in both directions. An entire Clan could fit under here, if they didn’t mind squatting down.

The squirrel’s scent had gone down the left side of the tunnel, so Redpaw started to crawl in that direction. There was no other sign of the squirrel’s presence under the next several bushes, however, only a rapidly fading scent. The squirrel had escaped. With a growl of frustration, Redpaw decided to continue down the bush tunnel anyway. He might come upon a mouse, with any luck.

He kept crawling, but instead of a mouse, he soon found himself face-to-face with another cat, a gray tabby with a tail just as red as his own. It was his Clanmate Rosetail.

“Oh, Redpaw!” she greeted him. “Are you hunting?”

“I was,” he muttered unhappily. “But the prey got away.”

“Don’t worry,” she said cheerfully, her tail whisking around in front of her. “No one finds it easy to hunt this close to Twolegplace. I expect that’s why Sparrowpelt sent you over here—he wanted to test your skills.”

Redpaw sighed. “I guess.”

“Come on,” said Rosetail, turning around to head along the tunnel ahead of him. “We’ll go together. I’m sure we’ll be able to find something for you to take back to Sparrowpelt.” She began to crawl forward down the bush line, and Redpaw followed her cautiously.

The two cats hadn’t gone far when a sudden mew from outside the bushes startled them. “What are you doing here? This is ThunderClan territory!”

Rosetail motioned with her tail for Redpaw to keep silent. Both cats peered out from under the edge of the bushes at the grass beyond.

Standing nearby, acting as though he was leader of the entire forest, was Thistleclaw, with his apprentice, Tigerpaw. The two of them were facing down a small black kit that was cowering near the Twolegplace fence. It was Thistleclaw that had spoken, his harsh words directed at the kit.

Another voice rang out. “Thistleclaw, he’s only a kit. He’s no threat.” Redpaw spotted Bluefur standing just behind Thistleclaw, looking very on-edge about the entire situation. He didn’t blame her. Everyone in the Clan knew that Thistleclaw took guarding the borders very seriously.

Thistleclaw growled again. “An intruder is an intruder, Bluefur! You’ve always been too soft on them.

“Oh, no,” mewed Rosetail softly beside Redpaw. “Thistleclaw, what in StarClan are you doing?” Redpaw remembered that Rosetail and Thistleclaw were littermates. He couldn’t imagine having such an aggressive cat for a sibling.

“Here, let’s put it to my apprentice,” came Thistleclaw’s voice again. “What do you think, Tigerpaw? How should we handle this?”

Tigerpaw seemed to grow excited. “I think the kittypet should be taught a lesson. One it’ll remember.”

“Oh, StarClan!” cried another voice from within the bushes. It wasn’t Rosetail. Redpaw whipped his head around. There, a short ways down the tunnel, was a broad-shouldered golden tabby tom.

_Lionheart!_ What was another one of his Clanmates doing here? Redpaw didn’t have long to wonder, because the action outside the bushes hadn’t stopped.

“Now, hold on, there’s no need for this…” Bluefur mewed plaintively.

From the other side of Rosetail, a tom muttered, “Why are you trying to reason with him? Make him _stop_ , Bluefur!” Redpaw saw the dark blue-gray pelt of an older cat: Bluefur’s father, Stormtail. Was the entire Clan hiding in the bushes with him?

“Shut up!” snarled Thistleclaw, turning around towards Bluefur. Tigerpaw, meanwhile, sprang at the kittypet, his claws outstretched. He landed a powerful blow, and the small black cat was sent flying across the grass.

Tigerpaw flexed his claws. “Get up!”

Beside Lionheart, the elder Mumblefoot growled. “How dare that young upstart treat a kit this way?”

Tigerpaw had already proceeded to slash at the kit with his long front claws in several places. Thistleclaw apparently felt it wasn’t enough. “Show it your teeth, Tigerpaw!” The dark tabby apprentice sank his teeth into the kit’s shoulder. Shrieking, the kit struggled futilely and tried to escape.

From all around Redpaw came shouts of astonishment and horror. Looking from side to side, Redpaw realized that there were countless cats sitting under the bush tunnel, stretching as far as he could see in either direction. In the middle of them all was Spottedpaw, who seemed to be preparing to jump out and help the kit, seemingly oblivious to all the other cats around her.

Bluefur seemed to finally decide that she couldn’t sit back anymore. Jumping across the clearing, she placed herself firmly between Tigerpaw and his prey. “Stop, Tigerpaw!” she yowled. “That’s enough! Warriors don’t need to kill to win a battle, remember?”

Stormtail nodded approvingly.

Blood dripping from his teeth, Tigerpaw glared at Bluefur. “I was just defending our territory.”

“Huh!” snorted Mumblefoot. “Defending our territory, my foot.” Larksong stroked her tail along his back, trying to calm him down.

“And you’ve done that,” Bluefur said, her voice somewhat strained. “This kit has learned its lesson.”

From behind Redpaw, Featherwhisker sighed and shook his head. “Poor little thing. I imagine its Twolegs will be terrified when it returns like that.”

Goosefeather just stared very intensely at a leaf.

“Yeah, you’ll never forget me!” Tigerpaw growled at the kit. Whimpering, the kit fled under the fence.

Leopardfoot kneaded the ground with her paws, anxious. “Oh, Tigerpaw, how could you?” Next to her, Adderfang and Patchpelt were whispering together fiercely.

“This never would have happened if his father were still here,” said Poppydawn sadly. White-eye nodded her agreement.

Outside, Bluefur had marched over to Thistleclaw, the fur on her back spiking. “If I _ever_ see you do something like that again, I’ll report you to Sunstar!”

“Wait, is she not going to report _this_ to me?” asked Sunstar incredulously.

Thistleclaw bared his teeth. “We were only defending ThunderClan from invaders.”

Tawnyspots grunted derisively.

“That so-called invader was a _kit_!” said Bluefur.

“That’s his problem,” said Thistleclaw, turning to leave. Tigerpaw followed, the two of them vanishing into the pine trees.

For a moment, there was silence, then the bushes around Redpaw erupted with outrage. “Who does he think he is, the deputy?” snarled Thrushpelt.

“That young cat needs to be taken down a peg or two!” called Weedwhisker.

“I don’t know, his apprentice looked really promising to me,” said Brokentail of ShadowClan.

Redpaw turned to see his other sister, Willowpaw, wriggling her way along the crowded tunnel to join him. “Hey, Redpaw, did you forget?” she asked. “We were going to see which of us could bring more prey back to camp.”

“Mouse dung!” Redpaw cursed. “I didn’t catch anything.”

“Uh oh. You could get in trouble with Sparrowpelt,” she said. “But don’t worry, I caught two mice. I’ll let you have one of them and say it was yours.”

“Oh, thanks,” said Redpaw. “I guess I owe you one now.” He’d have to repay that debt someday.

“Hey, wait, wasn’t that my son out there?” called a ginger kittypet tom.

 

 

 

Several moons later, they all hid in the branches of a large tree and watched as Bluefur gave her kits away. None of them ever said anything about it to her, though. They figured it would be impolite.


End file.
